Living through the Coronavirus pandemic feels like living through Groundhog Day the movie. Bill Murray's character (TV weatherman Phil Connors) got stuck in a time loop. He repeated the same day many times. Coronavirus feels like the same day on repeat.
Such monotony makes life feel meaningless. Philosopher Richard Taylor identified the key feature in Albert Camus’ take on the Myth of Sisyphus as a repetitive cycle that never goes anywhere. It only fed back into a loop of the same cycle again, hoisting the stone up the hill.
As weatherman Connors asks in the movie, “What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” Well, what would you do?
Of course, Phil wanted to quit living the same day over and over again. How he acted going through the day ultimately got him unstuck. Instead of acting like things didn’t matter, Phil began developing his moral character. He started helping people. A mistake we make in living through the Coronavirus pandemic is assuming that mundane routines are meaningless.
We have a gift. We have an opportunity to improve how we go through what feels like Groundhog Day. We can choose, in the little things, to add meaning to our life by the way we treat those we live with. We can choose to forgive people when they act rudely, recognizing they’re going through a difficult situation, as we all are in one way or another.
I’ve created a free masterclass to help you make the most of these times. It helps you discover a system for progressing toward a massively meaningful life. The masterclass drops this Sunday (9/20).
Wishing you progress in your Coronavirus-induced Groundhog Day,
-Prof Nous Cloos
